Thailand
Ratchathewi

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    • Day 2

      one night in bangkok

      December 27, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      18 Stunden später im Großstadtjungel angekommen🥳 Zumindest für einen kurzen Zwischenstopp. Wow! Bangkok isch einfach verrückt. Autos, Mopeds, Straßenverkäufer an jeder Ecke - i woaß gar nid wohin zersch luaga. Erschmol kurze Hose und Flipflops azoga und einfach drauf los spaziert.☀️Read more

    • Day 87

      Bangkok!

      November 5, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Schon bei der Einreise hat Bangkok um einiges gepunktet! Es war alles so unkompliziert! Wir stiegen aus dem Flieger und bekamen ein kostenloses Visum für ganze 45 Tage!
      Den ersten Tag haben wir verschlafen. Indien steckt uns noch immer in den Knochen und wir sind müde und angeschlagen.
      Der Hunger trieb uns am ersten Tag trotzdem aus dem gemütlichen Hotelbett und wir landeten mal wieder "zufällig" an einem Ort, der wie für uns gemacht war. Wir sind glücklich, hier zu sein!
      Den heutigen Tag haben wir für eine Tempel-und Innenstadttour genutzt.
      Gesehen haben wir den Wat Phra Keo-den Königspalast. Das Gelände wirkt ein wenig wie eine andere Welt. Imposante Wächterstatuen bewachen die Eingänge. Und auch an den Tempelgebäuden findet man viele bunte Fabelwesen.
      Es ging weiter zum Wat Arun,der Tempel der Morgenröte. Danach ging es mit einem Flussboot auf die andere Seite. Dort erwartete uns der goldene liegende Buddha im Wat Pho. Er ist ganze 45 Meter Lang und befindet sich in einer riesigen Halle, deren Wände eine spannende Geschichte erzählen und mit unglaublich viel Liebe zum Detail verziert sind.
      Stilecht fuhren wir mit einem Tuk Tuk in die Khao San Road. Hätten wir nicht schon die bekannte Backpackerstraße in Ho Chi Minh Stadt gesehen, wären wir wahrscheinlich hiervon erschlagen worden. Die Lautstärke der Bars, die vielen Stände und die vielen Besucher aus aller Welt machten unseren "Spaziergang" durch diese Straße zwar spannend aber auch anstrengend. Wir waren einfach noch zu müde und zogen uns deshalb in ein Massagestudio in der Seitenstraße zurück. Endlich wieder Massagen! 😍
      Im Anschluss profitierten wir von der Legalisierung von Cannabis und waren im siebten Himmel-Entspannung stellte sich ein.. bis wir wieder im Hotel angekommen waren und Nina plötzlich Fieber bekam.
      Jetzt heißt es erstmal ausruhen und wieder gesund werden.
      Morgen soll es weiter mit dem Nachtbus in den Norden nach Chiang Mai gehen.

      Bangkok hat uns übrigens völlig überrascht, wir hatten eine Stadt erwartet, die ähnlich wie Ho Chi Minh City laut, busy und dreckig war. Stattdessen fanden wir eine sehr moderne, saubere und viel ruhigere Innenstadt vor, die uns auf Anhieb gefallen hat!
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    • Day 72

      Alltag in Bangkok

      October 11, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      Die letzten Wochen Monate bin ich vom Gefühl komplett in Thailand angekommen.
      Ich habe mich an den Alltag gewöhnt und das meiste ist für mich Normalität geworden

      Generell genieße ich einfach die Zeit :)Read more

    • Day 5–12

      Bangkok

      October 4, 2023 in Thailand

      Sa-wat dii khrap Bangkok!
      Tänne on aina kiva palata hyvien makujen, kirjavien tuoksujen ja hymyilevien ihmisten luokse 🇹🇭☀️🥥🥭🫸🏼🫷🏼😌

      Edellisestä Bangkokin reissusta oli itsellä vierähtänyt 8 vuotta. Tässä ajassa mm. BTS-asemien ("Sky train") lukumäärä oli tuplaantunut ja aasialaisten turistien määrä oli lisääntynyt huomattavasti.
      Bangkok ei kaupunkina ja lomakohteena kuitenkaan ollut tuossa ajassa (tai covidin seurauksena) muuttunut lainkaan, ja tulihan sitä käytyä esimerkiksi Baan Chiangin herkkuja taas kerran syömässä!

      Käteinen raha on edelleen pääasiallinen maksutapa Kaakkois-Aasiassa, vaikka Thaikkuihin onkin uutuutena tullut paikallisten suosimana maksutapana QR-koodit. Maksut hoituu siis täälläkin nykyään kännykällä, kunhan löytyy tili paikallisesta pankista ja akussa on virtaa.
      Käteistä tulee nykyään Euroopassa käytettyä todella harvoin, joten myös valuutanvaihtojen ja setelimaksujen myötä huomaa olevansa kaukana kotoa. Itsehän olen aina tykännyt plärätä eri väristen setelien seasta maksuksi oikean summan, joten näen hitaan muutoksen tältä osin positiivisena.

      Bangkokista matka jatkuu Pohjois-Thaimaahan!
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    • Day 2–3

      Angekommen im Land der Freien

      December 30, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

      Gelandet in Bangkok
      Flug mit stinkenden Menschen und Kindern die gern gegen Sitze hauen überstanden
      Riesiger Nachtmarkt mit lauter Leckereien
      Und natürlich Nachspeise aus dem 7 Eleven 😉
      P.S. Thai Sim Karten auch am StartRead more

    • Day 5

      Day 5

      February 10 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

      Plane to Bangkok

      It was definitely the biggest plane I can remember flying on, which isn't saying much but I was still fascinated by the in flight entertainment, the meals that were served, and the packet load of free stuff. I started the flight watching out the window tracking where I was on the map and seeing if I could pick out the cities. Soon after, dinner was served which was way better than I had expecting, with Alfie going for the pasta whereas I went for the scrumptious meatloaf. Then, taking full advantage of the screen, I queued up Tarantino's Django Unchained which I'm mightly glad I did as it was a brilliant film. After that, I queued up David Attenborough's Green Planet (I thought it was only Blue to be honest) and within minutes I was dead asleep. 3 hours later I was awoken to the sound of breakfast being served and sunlight pouring through the window. Though not as tasty as the dinner I was still glad. Not long after, we had landed in Bangkok at 10am local time. This plane was definitely more touristy than our first, which was proven when the clapping started as we landed.

      After getting through security and collecting Alfie's bag (what a schmuck), we took the very cheap and convenient public sky train into Bangkok, where our first mission was to source a SIM for cheap ASAP. We had learnt our lesson from Istanbul. From the moment we left the train not only the heat but the humidity hit us. The air was so thick you could drink from it if you tried hard enough. It was also relatively cool for Thailand at 31° so ditching the trousers and fleeces were probably a good idea. Making our way to one of Bangkok's many mega malls, we found our way to an AIS shop and asked about the 900 Baht 50GB SIM we wanted. Unfortunately, they didn't do that deal. Fortunately, they had a much better deal. Double the data AND half the price. 4x as good as we were hoping for. After asking many questions to make sure we weren't being set up for an elaborate rouse, we were set up with our SIM. Double win!

      We couldn't check into the hostel until 2 so we found some lunch, and although probably a little pricy for Bangkok, I still had a fairly cheap and most definitely the yummiest mixed seafood Pad Thai. Pulling out tentacles and assorted things with chopsticks I hadn't used in months, I was starting to really get to like Bangkok. A small walk later we were at our hostel and my first priority was to shower and change out of my sweaty clothes into some fresh clothes, donning some shorts instead of my Temple trousers I had been wearing for 4 days straight. All cleaned up and settled in we took an hour planning all the things we wanted to do in Bangkok over the next few days. However, we hadn't slept much so today was gonna be an easy day and an early night (I say writing this at 1am).

      It just so happened that today was Chinese New Year's which also so happens to be quite big in Bangkok, so many shops and streets were dressed in Chinese New Years atire, with dragons around most corners. This meant Alfie had found us a show in a park to celebrate at 7.30pm so we had a few hours to kill first. First mission was to find Crocs, which we did (eventually after I navigated us to the wrong super mall) but they were just as expensive. We were now going to find some cheaper knock offs in the night market after the show. After walking around Bangkok's largest and oldest park (Lumphini Park) - seeing numerous joggers, dancers, and even the Bangkok Orchestra performing - we grabbed a metro to Benchasiri Park just in time for the show.

      What followed was (wait as I totally simplify it) a beautifully choreographed display of dancing, acrobatics, and music - backed by a rave-like light show - coming to a crescendo of a dragon breathing sparklers. After that it was time to hop back on the sky train as we head to the Pratunam Night Market - a wonderful mixture of food stalls and knock off merch. That just so happened to be exactly what we needed: some munch and some crocs. After a while of finding our bearings in the maze-ness of stalls, we try our hand at haggling and end up not buying any crocs, any temple trousers for Alfie, any temple shirts BUT I brought myself a nice light shirt which "Alfie wouldn't wear himself" but I'm extremely excited to melt slightly less in it tomorrow. We grabbed some cheap street food where we head back to the hostel and get ready for bed. I opted for a 2nd shower where I forgot my towel which was a fun problem to solve.

      Having no solid plans for tomorrow but alot of things on the list, I'm ready to pass out.
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    • Day 5

      Kultur Bangkok

      January 2 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

      Gestern einfach zu kaputt, heute kurzes Nachnelden 😊
      Wir haben 3 verschiedene Tempel besucht den ersten mit den riesigen liegenden Buddha
      Anschließend einen weißen Turm, aber der Weg nach oben war sehr komisch, der Gang sehr eng und die Stufen so hoch, dass sie mor bis zum Knie gingen
      Der golden Mount war sehrrr überlaufen
      Anschließend waren wir bei einem japanischem HotPot, dass war mega gut und das Fleisch😋
      Und ein kleiner Mitternachtssnack (Mochis)
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    • Day 16

      2022 Thailand - letzter Tag in Thailand

      August 15, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

      Wow, was für ein melancholisch angehauchter Tag. Der letzte Tag einer absolut abwechslungsreichen, intensiven, alleinigen und doch nie einsamen Reise in einem Lieblingsland mit meinem besten Freund-mir selbst.
      Was mir gerade für Gedanken durch den Kopf gehen während ich das hier schreibe, schreibe ich besser nich ins Reisetagebuch. Das wäre zu philosophisch, zu persönlich und gehört irgendwo hin-aber ned ins Reisetagebuch.
      Ich sag nur so viel...es geht mir gut-wenn ich die beiden Wochen Revue passieren lasse... werden ganz automatisch aus den 2 Wochen Rückblick ziemlich genau 2 Jahre die in mir nach Aufarbeit geschrien haben. 2019 war ich das letzte mal hier...seither is viel passiert und nach der seinerzeit begonnenen Lebensveränderung gibt es viel was ich mit etwas Wehmut sehr vermisse (Family, NTR...) aber auch viel was ich froh bin nun hinter mir gelassen zu haben. Wow, was für ne krasse Geschichte ich da hingelegt hab.
      👏😍👌❤️😲🤣😭😂😳😱,
      da war echt alles dabei.
      Aber ich bin jetz da wo ich hin will, da wo ich hinberufen wurde; privat wie beruflich einfach glücklich und vor mir neue Strecken, neue Herausforderungen und Veränderungen. Es geht immer weiter und ich freu mich, dass ich das habe was ich JETZT habe und morgen daraus wird. Der Job, die Kollegen, das Produkt dort und die Menschlichkeit, meine Familie und guten Freunde, unsre Bar...ich bin gesund...es wird einem immer was fehlen aber man darf nie ausser Acht lassen wie reich man ist, wenn man das hat was ich hab. SUPERLIVE!!! DANKE an EUCH die das lesen und mich dabei begleiten, ja mich sogar dabei unterstützen.

      Fuck...viel zu viel des Guten...ich könnte ewig weiter mein Inneres raus lassen...aber hey, zurück zur Reise und den Fakten.

      Ich bin von Hotel A nach Hotel B gelaufen, waren um die 2 km in der Bangkok Sonne. Das Duschen morgens hätte ich mir sparen können.
      Hab dort eingecheckt und bin gleich die Strecke abgelaufen wie ich morgen in die richtige Bahn einsteigen muss um zum Flughafen zu gelangen. Will ja den Flieger bekommen und wieder Heim zu Euch! ❤️‍

      Hab dann mein bisheriges Gepäck gewogen und festgestellt, dass ich noch 7 kg mitnehmen darf.
      Dann zum BIG C Supermarkt gelaufen und Kleinzeugs gekauft.

      Zurückgelaufen und die Sachen abgeladen, geduscht und hübsch gemacht um ein letztes Mal in die Stadt zu gehen.

      Dann dieser Regenschauer... What a fuck is das denn. Da hauts kurz mal den halben Ozean vom Himmel. Ich hab mich sofort in nen Massagesalon verzogen und mit ne Stunde gegönnt. War aber nich genug, denn als ich rauskam hats noch immer geschifft was geht.

      War klitschenass...also nichts mehr mit durch die Stadt. Ab in die MRT und Richtung Hotel und dann meine Abschiedsschlemmerei mit 3 Gängen genießen. Zum Glück direkt neben dem Hotel ne coole Bar gefunden.
      Es war wie immer lecker und heute so spicy dass mit dir Nase danach lief.

      Dann auch noch n Live Konzert... Dürfte sowas wie Thailändische Schlagercoverband gewesen sein...

      Und hier sitz ich jetz gerade... vollgefressen hier in dieser Bar neben meinem Hotel wo nun das Bettchen auf mich wartet, denn in genau 7,5h verlass ich mit dem Koffer das letzte Hotel und steig in den Airportlink...und sodann folgt dann auch der letzte Fussabdruck dieses Reisetagebuches.

      Bis morgen dann meine lieben.
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    • Day 6

      Day 6

      February 11 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

      Bangkok

      After agreeing last night to wake up at 8 or 9ish, I woke to Alfie shaking my arm at 10 after I fell asleep without setting an alarm. After a western breakfast, brushing my teeth and covering up in sunscreen, we were ready to go. Sporting my linen temple trousers and new shirt, we stepped outside not far from midday and compared to the day before, I felt like I was adjusting to the heat - the air not feeling as thick.

      Our first stop was to the Saket Temple, which we decided against Google maps and planned to take a boat West along the canal. After finally getting to the right side of the canal and waiting for 10 minutes, I suddenly started feeling a bit ill. Fearing the worst, I tell Alfie that I needed to go back to the hostel. A 10 minute walk later, I indeed had caught 'Bangkok Belly' just over 24 hours into our stay - although I hadn't exactly been careful. Luckily, it was nothing a couple of Immodium couldn't help fix - and for now they seemed to have done their job quite well. I'm just praying this doesn't backfire on me.

      Now, after trekking BACK to the pier we eventually board and rapidly surf along the canal until the final stop. This is where we meet the main character of the day - Dang. Now this is how to pronounce it, I have no idea how I'd begin to spell it. He's a retired Thai man who lives in Chiang Mai and was in Bangkok for a couple days to see a friend. He asked us where we were from and where we were going and he said that he would be happy to show us around. Sensing a scam, we were on our toes but we felt safe enough for now. We walked and talked our way to a local place where we sat and drank Thai beer. We spend a while talking about Thailand, England, his life, our lives, places to travel. It was a really nice experience and we helped eachother learn to speak eachothers languages. Now, for us it was the very basics and for him it was very specific, mostly we talked about how Northerners were hard to understand and taught him the word 'Scouser' as he had met one before and struggled like the rest of us. But by the end of our drinks, we had a cheat sheet of Thai phrases and had learnt more about their culture than I knew before. He had studied in Bangkok for 4 years learning history so knew the place quite well, even knowing the best places for a Thai massage - both the traditional and special.

      He had also studied as a monk for 3 months - something most Thai men do in their younger years so was very knowledgeable about Buddhism and its practices. This led us to a local temple which I'll spare you the long English name where he taught us how to properly pay respect to Buddha. This was a very surreal experience, to sit in a temple next to an ex-monk who I had only met a couple hours earlier and worship infront of a giant pure gold statue. He then lead us to the start of a long boat tour which he highly recommended, which was meant to take us past some of the biggest landmarks in Bangkok. He got us a discounted price and away we went. Before leaving, he had told us to give him a call in Chiang Mai and he would show us around. Apparently his brother owns a Muay Thai gym, and we could get a lesson for free. To be honest even after meeting him this all still seems sketchy, but I think that I'm just not used to Thai hospitality and I've read too many warnings for scams whilst travelling.

      Now, enough about Dang, although he may appear more in the future, time for the '1.5 hour' boat tour. First we head along the main river to a canal off shoot. I thought, wow, this is going to be amazing. Immediately then we wait for an hour as the canal's locks had a bottleneck and a very slow turn around time. After having my legs crammed in a seat to small and my ass on a wooden seat too hard I started to think I had wasted my money - although it gave me time to eat my spring rolls we had grabbed before hand. Eventually we got going along the canal and it was super interesting to see the state of the buildings along the canal. A very different way of living to what I had seen before. The temples on the route were cool but it was definitely a whistle stop tour, it would have been better time spent seeing them on foot - which is the plan for tomorrow. After reversing our route and waiting for the lock again, it turned out to be almost a 2.5 hour ride.

      After our extended ride, we headed to Chinatown to check it off our list. And wow, what an atmosphere. It was lucky we came during the Chinese New Year weekend as the streets were packed with people mostly wearing red and were lined with various food and merch stalls. Drumming filled the background and the more we explored we found various performances of different scales, ranging from 1 person with a guitar to an entire stage production with film cameras. We grabbed a delicious selection of food including pork noodles, fresh coconut ice cream out of a coconut, and a pomegranate juice drink.

      After eating all of our yummy food we made 1 final stop before heading back to our hostel. I want to be clear we did not partake in any activities, purely an exploration of a famous part of Bangkok's culture - the red light district. And I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't as crazy as I imagined. Maybe we went to the wrong street, or on the wrong day but it definitely wasn't as absurd as I expected. With a few ladyboys spotted it was time to head back to Pinto Hostel.

      One thing we had learned today after making a stop in the tourism office is that our lack of planning loosey goosey style of travelling was costing us more than we had hoped and could soon prove troublesome with transport and accommodation especially as the full moon parties down South began to book up accommodation. While we decided to plan the rest of our time in Thailand when we got back, we only made a vague plan for the next 2 days before Alfie went to bed. And that's where I sat writing this before a Kuwaiti dude from our hostel started chatting with me about his last 30 days in Thailand. I'll spare you his details but he seemed to go to the randomest places and showed me SO. MANY. PHOTOS. AND. VIDEOS. I was happy to talk but why is this man showing me a 1 minute video of someone trying a piece of candy. Anyways... shower had now time for bed.
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    • Day 7

      Day 7

      February 12 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

      Bangkok Temples

      After obligatory morning routine, our first stop is to head to The Grand Palace but actually make it this time instead of hanging with Dang. Same boat as yesterday and as we got off at the same 'pier' (bit of wood and tires) we had a very similar experience of a Thai teacher who was writing us a list of where go go. We sensed a scam but he gave us a list and said goodbye. Maybe Thai teachers are the nicest people on the planet? Either way he was impressed with our terrible Thai so it's a win regardless.

      Keeping to plan, we headed to The Grand Palace going via Khao San Road, which seemed like a whole lot of nothing compared to what I had heard. Although, it might have livened up by the evening. I guess we'll never know. Finally reaching The Grand Palace it was absolutely heaving with tourists - which I couldn't complain about as I was one of those tourists. It was 500 Baht and for once I feel as if I actually got my money's worth. It's the small wins.

      The Grand Palace also included The Temple of the Emerald Budha so we had both to explore. Although we weren't allowed in many of the buildings, everything was absolutely beautiful. Most walls were covered with coloured glass and gold mosaics everything sparkled in the sun. Words or pictures won't do it justice. It was almost as if everything was so pristine that it was hard to focus on one thing atall. What I found interesting is that there were people very precisely repainting the murals that lined the walls and the inside of buildings. What a insane job to have - to maintain history and culture to such a high degree of accuracy.

      Towards the end, Alfie wanted to go to the gift shop and to avidly avoid the Museum of Textiles. However, it turned out that the gift shop was just for the museum of textiles and took us through part of the museum. This meant that all the shit he had been giving me for going for the "wrong" routes to places (what I would call the scenic route) he had immediately started doing when he tried navigating us about. And just like the Buddhists believe, karma.

      On our way to the next stop, we pick up some munch from the closest food stall we could find, which just so happened to be serving chicken liver and stomach on a stick. Very hungry, I opted for the liver and it definitely wasn't the best I had tasted in Thailand so far.

      Our next stop was Wat Pho, which is famously known for the 46m long, 15m high reclining gold Buddha statue. This cost 300 Baht which was just on the tipping point whether we wanted to see this, or visit Wat Arun and the giant 69m Buddha we had sort of seen yesterday on the boat tour. Seeing as we had already seen it(ish) - we went for this. The gardens were quite peaceful actually, until you got round the back to the hoards of people taking pictures and selfies around the reclining Buddha in a narrow pathway around it. Of course I was one of these people taking pictures so I cannot complain. What I found interesting is that some of the grounds were shut of for what is known as a "Pali Exam" - where monks in training take a test. We happened to be there as their exam finished so we were surrounded by many monks all in their orange robes, carrying certificates. I didn't want to take any pictures of them as I didn't want to be disrespectful but there may be some in the background of some pictures.

      After that it was time to head back the way we came, down the canal again and to the market we went to on day 1 as I was in need of another shirt, Alfie in need of some flip-flops, and we were both in need of some food. We went back to the same place for food aswell, then grabbed some sticky rice with mango for dessert - a common Thai pudding. We then spent a few hours planning our time in Thailand which was reassuring and allowed us to book some travel. Originally we were gonna do a day trip to Ayutthaya - not too far from Bangkok - but the trains were too infrequent and the station was too far to be back in time for our night bus whilst still giving us a solid lie in as we were both exhausted from all the non stop walking we had done. Spending 2 weeks in Scotland shortly before also didn't help I'm sure. So with that, new plan is full rest day with lots of planning and admin.
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    Ratchathewi, ราชเทวี

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